Elon Musk files response and counterclaims to Twitter lawsuit over $44 billion deal

Elon Musk formally responded to $Twitter(TWTR.US)$ Inc.'s lawsuit seeking to force him to go through with his $44 billion takeover of the social-media platform and included counterclaims against the company. The filing Friday was made confidentially and isn't viewable by the public.

It isn't unusual for counterclaims against a public company to be filed confidentially, pending review for possible redactions of sensitive information. The response and claims may be available as soon as next week.

One of counterclaims by Mr. Musk is expected to center on the allegation that Twitter changed its number of monetizable daily active users shortly after agreeing to the deal, and then didn't provide thorough responses to requests by Mr. Musk's team for data on the spam number, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Musk's response Friday includes a reference to the Warren Buffett quote: "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked," the people said, a suggestion by Mr. Musk that Twitter has been obfuscating about spam and fake accounts because it knew the market downturn could reveal its weaknesses.

Mr. Musk's response Friday was filed hours after the judge overseeing the lawsuit against Mr. Musk set the week of Oct. 17 for a 5-day trial.

While Mr. Musk's answer and counterclaims to Twitter's lawsuit aren't immediately accessible, the billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. has been vocal about his reasons for wanting to walk away from the deal and indicated in previous regulatory and court filings how he may try to make his case for terminating the merger agreement.

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